California National Popular Vote Law

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed the National Popular Vote Bill into law, awarding all of California's 55 electoral votes to the winner of the overall popular vote in a U.S. presidential election.

But the new California law has a caveat.

The law goes into effect only when the bill is enacted by enough states to comprise a total of 270 electoral votes or more.

National Popular Vote legislation has been enacted by 9 states, which combined, represent nearly half of the 270 electoral votes needed for the law to go into effect.

The non-partisan National Popular Vote Bill is being considered in every state and has now been adopted by enough states to total 132 electoral votes:

CA 55 | DC 3 | HI 4 | IL 20 | MA 11 | MD 10 | NJ 14 | VT 3 | WA 12

"California has joined a growing number of states unwilling to relegate themselves to the status of bystander in presidential elections," said John Koza, founder of the National Popular Vote organization.

The California National Popular Vote Bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo).

The California governor signed the bill to reform how a U.S. president is elected ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

Nationally, the National Popular Vote Bill is endorsed by more than 2,000 state legislators.